Verus Capital Partners LLC Reduces Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Verus Capital Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 127,834 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,456 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter worth about $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after buying an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. Consolidated Planning Corp lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 21,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 18.3% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after acquiring an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE T opened at $26.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $27.16. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on T shares. New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

About AT&T

AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally.